While waiting for Comedy
by Vuld Edone
Summary: Fluttershy is now a waitress, the sky is a mess, the CMC won't play together, Pinkie is nowhere to be seen and ponies actually read books from Twilight's library. Now it is up to Dizzy- I mean Discord to restore some order.


**This is the fanfic of a fanfic, "Laughter Lost" and "Unexpected". Good news is, you don't need to know them (yet) to read this one. It was meant to be released on July 20th precisely but circumstances have changed.  
I had prepared a story where Twilight and the others would explore Discord's mansion but due to them actually going there in the fanfic, it never materialized. This one was first meant to be Discord's dream, focused on the first scene, but then I actually found this current storyline.**  
**Only "Marvel Mint" is an invention of mine, for the joke's purpose, I made it up in ten seconds. Also, there was a scene I scraped where Discord would talk with a statue of himself. It was meant to explain why he goes to Twilight but eh, it's Discord, he does what he wants.**  
**Needless to say, if I wrote a fanfic of a fanfic it's that I highly advise you to read them, beginning with "Laughter lost". Those things are good.**

* * *

Ponyville was mostly the same that day of a warm day when the sun baked thatched roofs like bread and bridges over the river had become the spot to be, yet were deserted. The library's great tree had all of its windows wide open and on its base where its shadow extended sharp in contrast with the rest of the town, lulled by its foliage, a little crowd of ponies of all ages pressed there trying to enter.

Most were inside the library and sit or lain down in circle, all ears for the story being read aloud. Whether they were calm or excited all had captivated eyes. So did those outside, their heads like grapes on windows, the youngest of them carried on top and delighted.

All were watching the center of the library where the table should have been and the equine statue, they were anticipating every page turned. Here was a throne of stone and sit on it a horse like dragon with reading glasses. Legs crossed, his back curved on the stone he would emphasize every sentence, turn words to magic as his bluffing voice shaped emotions cheerfully. His clawed paw would hold the page a second too much for him to finish the last words then would turn it so fast it seemed a trick of the eye, and he would continue without a glance for the book, himself plunged into his audience.

"He looked into her eyes and, with a trembling voice, he said: 'yes'. They married the very same day. The End."

'What rubbish' the dragon couldn't prevent himself from thinking, and his first expression betrayed that feeling, yet closing the book he smiled and sincerely:

"That was a marvelous story you wrote!" He said to a young filly who hopped of joy. "It was wonderful" and to the rest of the audience: "Don't you think?"

How many cheers there were! They clapped on the ground and outside too on the grass, and began asking: "Another story! Another story Discord!" They said his name, and he barely recognized it due to the noise. His glasses hold by his lion paw he asked them to calm down, quietly, put the crowd to rest. Of course he would read them another one. All he had to do was to pick among the piles around his seat.

"Let us see… oh. This one is a classic." Discord stated after a skeptical inspection of the title. But ponies around him reacted strongly: "Not this one!" and "It's boring!" To his surprise, and despite their calls he quickly opened it, dashed through the chapters to see what could annoy them. Then, in a dramatic manner, he held the book away from him and let it fall under the acclamations of the group. "So what story would you hear?"

"Tell us yours!"

He laughed a bit: "Now that! would be boring. Why fret over pesky millenar dragonequi and the fate of a million lives when we can have poetry chanting the value of Harmony?"

They didn't understand half of what he said and they loved it. At the sight of the huge old book he was holding, all asked him to open it, then sit the moment he would put his glasses again on his clever muzzle. "Now" he said taking a leap through pages, then noticed: "Silver Spoon, why are you a balloon? Wait, how long have you been…" He got up, caught the string and attached it to the armrest of his chair. "Now, no more chaos please." And he began his over the top reading.

When Twilight came out of her room and down the stair, the group of ponies had already broken and dispersed in the library, they were looking for books on the shelves, among those who left outside all this time had rushed in. Discord had already made the throne disappear and was pulling the table back to its place. Quickly the purple mare came and helped him.

"I forgot to thank you, again, for your help." She said once they finished.

"Yes, it's true I'm worthy of praise." He said to the equine statue, the to the librarian: "Reading is, how should I say? Relaxing."

"Well" sit on the stair was Twilight's assistant, Spike. The baby dragon had been inspecting the room all along. "The walls are still made of wood at least."

The mare threw him a hard glance, making Discord giggle, then she continued: "No, really! Look at all those ponies, reading books! Without your help it would have been a lost cause."

At that moment a pony approached, a book in her mouth. "Can I borrow this one? What's it called, uh, Moss Facts, yeah can I borrow it?" And with Twilight's blessing she went away with it. Spike took this occasion to whisper "it's a bit scary" but the purple mare wouldn't mind, too happy to see the library so full of life. Plus recently she would leave her own door slightly open as to be able to read the horse-like dragon reading too.

Discord took a bit more time to discuss, then checked his golden chained clock and concluded it had no hand so he asked the mare what time it was. "Calculating time with degrees… how perfectly ordered of you!" He added while taking a top hat to put the clock in it then saluting, he left the library. Despite his tiny wings he was walking, exchanging words with the ponies he would meet.

The name of 'Pinkie Pie' caught his attention. The dragonequus was passing in front of a restaurant when he heard the name being mentioned, from a voice he knew too high pitched not to be that of Rarity. She was there, blazing under the sun despite her sunshade, and complaining. After a bit of hesitation Discord decided to go meet her, looked in his pockets for a perfect smile and approached the mare with a greeting.

She smirked, as she would everytime he was around. "Discord, you jester! What gives me the pleasure of seeing you?" And quickly: "Of course! You're here because you couldn't resist my generous proposal of giving you the nicest outfit a dragon ever wore!"

"As long as it's a dress."

"I'm sure you would be astonished by the hoof made suit I would realize!"

"Oh but a dress would be so nice!"

She clenched her teeth, yet kept her smile and wisely changed the subject. "What a shame. Did you know Rainbow Dash will celebrate the anniversary of her first race next week?" What she said wasn't the least bit an anecdote as Discord could feel needles in her voice. She was trying to make him say something, and would make sure he couldn't miss her intent: "I'm sure aaall of her friends will be there for this occasion!"

"Am I on the list?" She gave him the kind of look that said, don't make me answer that. "Then maybe Pinkie Pie will let me help her organize that party."

"She won't organize it." Rarity's voice wasn't really sad. "We're not sure she will even be there."

"Nonsense doesn't suit you well."

"Well, she is, uh… right."

They turned to see the waitress hidden behind her pink voluptuous mane, with the plate between her teeth. Her foreleg was tapping the ground, anxious to have disturbed their discussion, and a bit less anxious of being in the presence of Discord, that too. While the horse-like dragon just took his beverage Rarity couldn't hold her surprise:

"Fluttershy darling! What distressful event forced you to endorse this sinister labor?"

"I, uhm… well…" She put the plate on the table. "Marvel Mint was caught reading a book, so she… couldn't work so I was asked… I'm here to replace her. For the time being! And there was no dispute, please let there be no dispute, please…"

The mare was making filly eyes at the edge of the hay table, her muzzle on the tablecloth while her friend tried to comfort her. "Anyway" she finally added, "Rarity is right." It had been some time since their bouncing friend organized a party, and while she would help occasionally the burden fell on other ponies. Then, just as Discord would finish his glass, munching it, she explained that a few days ago Pinkie Pie left in the middle of a party. "Rarity's birthday… actually."

He stopped munching the glass to suddenly break it. "This is most distressing." He was actually rampaging through his brain trying to find anything to explain why this was happening, or any reason to believe it was a lie, as he wanted to believe it was a lie. After all, Pinkie Pie was perfectly happy. Her smile…

"And…" Fluttershy added, to his fear. "When she comes see me… she seems absent. She talks only about you two."

"Well!" Rarity neutrally rejoiced. "All we want is her happiness, right?"

He jumped on the occasion faster than his will could follow: "Indeed" And getting up: "She is an element of Harmony. I'm sure everything will fall back in order soon."

"Good" Fluttershy said, "because I don't remember if my plate was round or square, but I'm sure it wasn't both."

Discord couldn't stay any longer. His emotions were like a horde pillaging every part of his being in waves of a chaotic storm. That didn't make much sense, as did this discussion. He left the mares and a few coins and rushed not too sure where, then remembered Pinkie would most probably be at school. The thought made him smile, but he felt too many opposed passions to have it last.

Ponyville's elementary school was in the outskirt, a quiet place in the middle of grass and shrubs. He appeared on the pole on the backside, then flashed at the nearest window to glance inside and meet the teacher eyes to eyes. She seemed surprised, then returned to washing the blackboard. "Come in!" He made the turn to get in through the open door.

"What brings you here?" Asked Cherrilee, the sponge pressed by her hoof.

"I'm here to prevent chaos." He waited a few seconds that she would stop giggling. "Did you see Pinkie Pie?"

"Yes, she left with the class. She should be home by now." Then: "Is there something-" But she was talking to a coat rack with a "thank you" note.

He had already left, not home but back in Twilight's library. "Discord?" She just got time to formulate before he grabbed her and carried her to her room, followed by the baby dragon. Once he put her down, he made signs for them to stay silent, verified the door was closed and asked Spike to do the same with the window. Only with that was his train wreck of thoughts somehow at rest.

"Twilight, I need your help."

"Of course!" She said, curious. "But why me?"

"It was either you or Luna, and I don't want to meet Luna just yet."

He found a sofa, forgot he made it appear and laid down on it as dramatically as he could, a paw on his forefront and a painful growl on his lips. Twilight on her seat took the bait and began asking questions, noting it as Discord would explain the situation. Surprised that the mare wasn't fully aware of it. When he finished his explanation: "Is it grave, doctor?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's just a phase." Discord smiled a bit. "Maybe she has her reasons. Maybe Pinkie Pie is preparing a surprise!" Discord was now fully reassured. "Or maybe she's suffering from chaotic exposure."

He put a pillow on his head.

"Now listen, don't be childish." Twilight said while, helped by her assistant, she tried to take the pillow away. "It's just a theory among others! You did nothing wrong, she needed you we all know that!"

"How very very comforting."

"You see?" They were now pulling him by his tail. "All I'm proposing, is, she's getting, bored, of us!" Her grasp slipped and she found herself on the back, on the floor. "We are just not chaotic enough for her."

The dragon head emerged from his now piles of cushions. "Yes! I mean, no. I don't know anymore, what does it mean?"

"It means she wants chaos" Spike summed up.

"Remember," Twilight asked, getting up. "Without chaos, Pinkie Pie feels empty. That's why she freed you. That's why she hid you."

"Because love clearly had nothing to do with it!"

"Sorry, I only study friendship." She trotted to a shelf, took a book and opened it. "Scientifically speaking,"

"Wait, it's becoming complicated. Here," Discord said to the baby dragon, "hold my horns for me."

She glanced a bit, but returned to her reading. How Pinkie experienced chaos the first time. "A quick, powerful source of laughter." How she regained her laughter through chaos, through a new balance. "But to maintain this balance, she needs more and more chaos. In the meantime…" Her reading had already slowed down, as she understood herself what she was stating. Discord made less and less chaos. Theoretically, to help Pinkie he should rule again.

His mocking voice followed: "Chaos! is a pleasure, not a task." He wouldn't defy Celestia again. He wouldn't risk Pinkie Pie. Plus, he was sculpting a wooden statue and would hate if it was distorted by an accidental chaos reign. "So what will happen?" He asked, now a bit worried.

"She will isolate herself with you, and at one point, even you won't be able to provide enough chaos. She will lose her laughter."

"Could you say that with an even more tragic voice?"

No, was his thought, no she would never grow tired of him. Maybe ruling Equestria again was an option after all. No, he refused to lose her. Maybe returning to the state of stone… He was calm, yet boiling, willing to yell, willing to do everything, anything to prevent this perfect life that was offered to him. For the first time of his existence, as far as his memory could reach, he experienced harmony. And now it was snowing in Twilight's room.

"So what do we do?" Spike asked.

"Restore the old balance, of course." Twilight stated, again roaming through the pages of her book. "Chaos will soon be a depleted source so we have to find her another one."

Discord was rubbing his goat beard. "What's more funny than chaos?"

"I don't know but we must try. Let's go!"

In a clap of fingers, the dragonequus took them away from the library, leaving only Spike behind who tried to stop them: "I was talking about the snow!" But they were gone, he groaned and began rolling a snowball.

The flash left both Discord and the purple mare in the middle of the hall, back to the manor. There it was, a replica of the draconequus encased in stone, impossible to miss. But as Twilight would walk on the tiles she seemed surprised, looking around as his host was searching for Pinkie Pie. "She isn't there" he simply stated, hiding his fears.

"It's strange" Twilight answered. "The place seems more ordered than the last time I visited."

"You only came once."

"Oh. Uh. Yeah. Let's concentrate on Pinkie Pie. Through a careful study of her reactions and the appropriate amount of stimulus we should be able to determine a source of replacement."

"Has there been a secret visit you would discuss?"

"We have more important things to do right now!" She brushed her dark mane and those remarks aside. "Let's find her!"

From flash to flash they visited Sugarcube Corner, the town hall and the town train station then the elementary school where Cherrilee found herself with a second coat rack, but with no luck. A few jumps again and they were in Applejack's orchards, in front of the suspicious mare as Twilight was mounted on Discord's head, due to the rate of teleportation. Yet she neither had seen Pinkie Pie. As she left them to return to her work, instead of a new flash Twilight dismounted to walk a bit.

"Where could she be? Somepony has got to have seen Pinkie Pie!"

"She's at the pond!"

Both looked around, surprised, and only when Scootaloo got out of her hiding spot did they see her. The filly repeated, Pinkie Pie was at the pond, every filly knew that. "Why the pond?" The purple mare asked.

"I would be there too if I wanted to have fun! Now even Applebloom is reading" and she crossed her hooves, "it sucks."

"What do you mean? A few reading can't hurt."

"A few?" The filly pegasus exclaimed. "They read day and night like they're brainwashed! Even Rainbow Dash doesn't fly anymore, she's too busy reeading!"

And after a few more words she left them in the orchards, between the thin shadows of trees against the blazing sun. Some more seconds went by without both of them saying a word, then Discord: "Are we done here? I have a fuzzy cozy little ball of happiness to catch." But Twilight was deep in her thoughts, not even hearing what he said. He frowned, took a bucket of water and stopped short of splashing her as she seemed to wake up.

"Discord, when was the last time you caused chaos?"

He quickly hid the bucket. "What a horrible accusation! I promised Celestia I wouldn't and treachery is more the specialty of cheese like pony insects than me."

"No, you don't understand!" She began hoofing around in circle, nervously. "It is not an accusation! Chaos is to you what laughter is to Pinkie Pie! You have your own balance, and if you break it…"

She stopped short of any conclusion. In her eyes were more questions than answers. It was chaos, everything could happen, and nothing good. But Discord still wouldn't understand so she took the simplest comparison she could: he was a boiling pot, repressing his nature for the sake of being with Pinkie Pie. The more he needed, the more he repressed. So much that chaos was overflowing. "You didn't interest ponies in reading. You unconsciously forced them!" It wasn't an accusation either. She still considered him friendly.

He wouldn't react, not only because he didn't fully understand but because he couldn't care less. His whole attention was absorbed by the well being of Pinkie Pie, and what little he understood – that he would explode – didn't sound very threatening to him.

"Fuzzy ball first, shall we?" And he prepared to snap his fingers.

"No!" She yelled. "We must end your reading spell before it gets worse!" He didn't react, so she insisted: "We can't abandon Ponyville!"

"Let there be no discord between us. I'm going for Pinkie Pie, with or without you."

"Fine!"

She turned around and ran in direction of Ponyville, through the fence of the farm. He watched her, a bit annoyed, his fingers still ready to bring him to his beloved pony. And he snapped. The very instant, he was flying along Twilight.

"What" she caught her breath, "made you change your mind?"

"You are the friendship pit of science I heard, good luck with that one!"

And with that he seized her, put her on his back and rocketed through the sky, to the cloud where the impossible to miss rainbow colored tail was lulled in delight by an adventurous reading. The sky blue pegasus almost panicked when the dragonequus appeared in front of her with Twilight's head yelling at her:

"Rainbow Dash! Drop that book!"

"What the-" The mare pronounced. "What is wrong with you two?"

Discord left aside every of the other answers he had: "You are apparently under one of my spell, that forces you to read."

"Exactly!" Twilight triumphed. "You must stop reading this instant!"

"If you touch my book I'll bite!"

They looked at each other. "Okay that's new" Discord admitted, and they both jumped on Dash who defended her book ferociously until it slipped and fell down. "No!" And the pegasus plunged to catch it, followed by the dragon and his pony to prevent her from catching it, in an unforgiving race toward the ground. The book was almost at hoof reach, Dash was beating them when Twilight yelled at Discord to teleport. He figured he could but too late, the pegasus had her book against her chest, just in time to stop the fall short of the soil.

"I'm going to find a new cloud, and read that book." The sky blue mare threatened. "Don't. Come."

She then dashed away, leaving them both in the middle of Ponyville's park where other ponies were looking for the shadows of trees. To read books. Immediately Twilight went after them, asked each of them to give up their reading and got refusal after refusal, until she burst: "I'm asking ponies not to read! Is that so hard?"

"Well, duh!" A mare answered in their back, then jumped right into Discord's paws to curl there and close her eyes. "Pinkie!" He exclaimed and Pinkie answered: "Dizzy!" with one eye open and an infinite smile. Yes, she was at the pond, but that was before. Now she wanted to be with Discord. That reminded the two companions of their problem, but they wouldn't say a word about it in her presence.

"Pinkie, we must end a reading spell Discord accidentally put on Ponyville!"

"No he didn't!" And: "Ponies are just bored because I don't organize parties anymore so they need other occupations but those days are too hot and the river and the pond are full so they read books instead!"

"Bu- bu- but Scootaloo told us they were reading day and night!"

"Because they are studying!" Pinkie answered in a singing tone. "Applebloom in particular! She wants her sister to be proud!"

"So…" Twilight was kind of speechless. "You just read out of boredom?" A sudden rainbow colored gust of wind came back and answered "Yes!" in a rush. Others ponies around confirmed before returning to their books. Only Discord was disappointed, as he wouldn't admit he liked this short burst of chaos, but feeling Pinkie Pie close to him was worth it.

Now that they had her, they could run every test they want, yet none of them did want to try. Twilight felt like returning to her library, with a smile she excused herself and left the dragonequus with the pink fluffy mare. She kept wondering, as both looked her trot away, if she was right or wrong.

"So." Discord asked as he was carrying Pinkie back home. "Will you be at Rainbow Dash race anniversary next week?"

"Of course not!"

He stopped, surprised: "Why would you miss that?"

"Oh, Dizzy!" She laughed. "I already explained it to Dash! It's the same day Comedy will have her exams, and I want to be there for her! Don't you?" And with that she curled a bit more against this heart she loved.


End file.
